When Fame and Fortune Strikes
by PikaSass
Summary: How does Misty cope with the fame game when she gets a huge role in it? Can she ever go back to a life she tried so hard to leave behind?


DISCLAIMER: I most definately do not own Pokemon.  
  
A/N: Misty with an alternative life and a reunion that Ash was not expecting. Can things ever be the same between them? *sigh* I'm also really sorry about the lyrics I made up in here, they really suck but they sound something along the whole Britney-Christina-Mandy-teenyboppy scene!  
  
  
"You could be surprised, Ash. I might actually get somewhere with this."   
  
Two short sentances and she had walked out of his life, probably forever. A plane had then taken her to her scheduled destination, but destiny had taken her to the top of the success ladder.  
  
Ash sighed, putting the CD back on a shelf as he recalled his best friend's last words to him. The CD had a dominant image of her, a cheeky grin imposing on her heavily made-up face. It was too artificial for Misty. That was not the girl who had left him a year ago admist his teasing of a phony recording contract. A talent scout had spotted Misty singing while walking down a street, and from there things had taken off for her. Ash should've been happy for her, but...  
  
"Pikachu, I dunno why I even let myself into music stores. Stop me next time" Ash ordered his yellow fuzzball of a friend, who was happily perched on his left shoulder.  
  
"Pika Pika" Pikachu agreed. It knew better than anyone how badly Misty's hasty rise to stardom had affected Ash, and hence music shops were practically a tortue chamber. Pikachu knew the merciless teasing that occured before she left was a temporary shield from his pain. The halt of communication between the two friends had made him wiser beyond his years, as he lived out the too-well-known saying:  
  
You don't know what you've got until it's gone.  
  
"C'mon, let's get outta here" Ash suggested. The mall offered no peace for his conflicting brain, as it focussed on the girl he had let slip through his fingers. They had shared four years together, and a whole lot of adventures along the way.   
  
It seemed the only thing he hadn't shared with her was his deepest secret stored at the bottom of his heart. But that was only because it would upset her - probably for the rest of her life. Emotional scarring or something.   
  
"Pi, Pikachu!" Ash looked in the direction Pikachu was frantically pointing towards and heavily sighed again.  
  
"Pikachu, we are not going to Misty's concert. I don't wanna have to tell you again" he said sternly. At this point, Pikachu leapt of its master's shoulder and proceeded to jump and down in front of the poster that proclaimed the concert.  
  
"Pikachu, quit it" Ash hissed through clenched teeth.  
  
"Your Pikachu a fan of Misty?" a lady behind the information desk asked politly.  
  
"I guess you could say that" Ash muttered.  
  
"There are still some tickets avaliable" the lady said.  
  
Ash shook his head. "We can't go, we're busy tomorrow night" he lied.  
  
"What's tomorrow night got to do with anything? The concert is tonight."  
  
Ash couldn't stop the tugging at the half of his brain that was urging him to go, nor could he stop Pikachu's consistent tugging at his jeans. He hadn't seen or heard from Misty in a year, and he suddenly realised how anxious he was to see her.  
  
"Where do you get tickets?" he asked almost desperately.  
  
"Right here, lovie" the woman announced with a smile. "Starts at 7. Have a fab night." She handed over the passes, which Ash exchanged for hard-earned battle money, and Pikachu happily clambered back up onto his shoulder as he sullenly walked away.   
  
Maybe this was a bad idea. A lot could happen to someone in a year, especially when fame and fortune were concerned. But Ash would have to tease himself with thoughts such as these for another 4 hours. Then he would gain answers to questions he had only been asking himself for 12 painful months.  
  
*******  
  
"I'm in a silly conflict 'bout your flyness and your shyness,  
A modest boy-next-door or a macho guy with a fatal lure..."  
  
What inspiring lyrics, Ash thought dimly, as he unhappily watched what used to be his best friend prancing around a stage in knee-high boots, a tiny skirt and an even tinier top. He had to convince himself that Misty would not degrade herself to that voluntarily. Surely she was forced to wear that ensemble by some prissy stylist who obviously loved the whole "degrading teenage girls" look.  
  
"That's it, I'm outta here" Ash announced to Pikachu, who had gone noticeably quiet admist the thousands of screams. After all the hype and excitement it had undergone only hours ago, Pikachu seemed to be absorbing a shock it definately hadn't been expecting.  
  
Ash shoved his way through the hysterical crowd of idolistic teenage girls and breathlessly found his way outside. A cool breeze was wafting by the arena's exterior and it wrapped him in a blanket of chills that he'd experienced at his first glance of Misty. How could someone he had known so well, been so close to, do that to herself?  
  
"Pikachu...I thought I knew her" Ash whispered, his voice void of its usual boyancy and determined tones.  
  
Pikachu nodded, but still couldn't speak. Its eyes were cast down towards the ground, fixed on a lone stone that Ash wasted no time in kicking in frustration.  
  
"Excuse me sir, do you have a pass?" Ash heard a voice and his head snapped up at the demanding tones, but his face soon broke into an astonished grin as he recognised the person approaching him.  
  
"Brock! You're a security guard?" he asked. Brock had left Ash and Misty 2 years ago, proclaiming that he was sick of travelling, that it was time to find a job and start fulfilling adult responsibilities.  
  
"Ash Ketchum! You better believe it man!" The two high-fived and Ash found his disappointment and despair temporarily dissolving.  
  
"Well yes Brock, I do have a pass" Ash answered his question.  
  
Brock raised an eyebrow. "Why did you come?"  
  
Ash was shocked by the sudden question but answered it anyway. "I missed her. I haven't seen her in a year, it's been hard...plus Pikachu practically forced me to go" he smiled.  
  
"She's changed, huh?" Brock asked the question rhetorically but Ash nodded anyway.  
  
"That's why I'm not in there anymore. I haven't even talked to her but..." His voice trailed off and Brock patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly.  
  
"I know." He hesitated before he decided to be daring. "Ash, did you ever tell her how you felt?"  
  
Ash looked at his old friend with wide eyes. "What do you mean?"  
  
Brock sighed. "Don't play dumb, Ash. I know how you truly felt about her. Even Pikachu knew."  
  
"I can't deny it at all?" Ash asked hopelessly. Both Brock and Pikachu solemnly shook their heads. "Alright, alright, so you know, big woop. I never told her."  
  
"Why?" Brock persistantly inquired.  
  
"I dunno...I honestly don't know! I guess I was afraid I would scare her off" Ash said in obvious exasperation.  
  
"Would you tell her if you saw her now?" Brock eyed Ash seriously as he spoke.  
  
Ash shrugged. "I suppose I could. Wouldn't make any difference to her hectic life now, would it?" he said sarcastically.  
  
"Well then, if it's not gonna make any difference you might as well get it off your chest. I can slip ya backstage" Brock informed him with a mischevious grin.  
  
"B-b-backstage?" Ash stuttered, though not from the cold. The many dreams he had had of reuniting with Misty were now absolving into nightmares. "What would I say to her?" he asked, an undeniable tremble accompanying his voice.  
  
"Tell it like it is" Brock said simply. "You don't have to get down on your knees and ask to spend the rest of your life with her. Just say you've missed her. Like you said, it won't make any difference to her."  
  
"Then why should I tell her?"  
  
"Because it would make a difference to you" Brock smiled. "It's been building up inside you for four years, Ash, and you have to let her know. It's only fair. It would get a huge burden off you, trust me" he said knowingly.  
  
"Okay okay" Ash gave in. "But if I screw this up you're getting the blame" he warned.  
  
Brock defensivly put his hands up. "I'm not the one who's talking. Your words man, not mine." Ash sighed in admitted defeat as he started to follow Brock to the "Authorised Personnel Only" section.  
  
"Here's a pass. You're with me" Brock said, handing him a laminated piece of card.  
  
"You're gonna come with me?" Ash asked hopefully, but his face soon fell at Brock's negative answer.   
  
"No way, you're on your own on this one. She's due off stage in 2 minutes, can you hold out that long Romeo?"  
  
Ash scowled at Brock's teasing and before long found himself alone in her dressing room. It was brightly lit with a huge wardrobe that, on furthur inspection from Ash, contained even more distasteful clothes. Her makeup desk was covered in...well, makeup! That in itself was un-Misty. Plus there seemed to be a never-ending supply of strawberries. Tons of punnets of strawberries littered the room, which left Ash not only in confusion, but in caution as to where he walked.  
  
A few silent seconds later the door flung open and the room almost seemed to come to life in her presence, inhaling the oxygen she was exhaling breathlessly.  
  
"Okay, where the HELL is my Evian?" she demanded to no one in particular. After this small but nonetheless loud outburst, Misty's gaze came to rest on Ash. The recognition took all of 2 seconds to hit her as her confused emotions ran rampant through her, and she froze.  
  
Neither teen spoke. They were standing 5 feet apart, but time had been the ultimate seperator, not physical distance. An awkward air was suspended over the two of them until Misty reached down to pick up a strawberry punnet.  
  
"I need my after-show strawberries" she explained, aloofness being the dominant tone in her voice. She wouldn't show him how shocked she truly was to find him in the middle of her dressing room a year after nothing.  
  
"I see" Ash said grimly. Her first words to him, after one whole year, were about strawberries?! Misty calmly walked over to her makeup table, the lightbulbs on the mirror illuminating her already radiant face.  
  
"Haven't seen my Evian anywhere, have ya?" she asked non-chalantly, popping a strawberry into her mouth.  
  
"Well gee Mist, it's nice to see you too" Ash said sarcastically.  
  
Misty glared. "Don't you dare mock me. I'm famous, I'm important, I'm Misty Waterflower - "  
  
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Ash found himself yelling.  
  
"Of course I'm famous, dumbass! Gimme someone who had four consecutive number one singles and wasn't famous" Misty challenged with hard eyes.  
  
"No no no, you're famous alright, it's done your head in beautifully" Ash remarked. "I was actually referring to the part where you said you were Misty Waterflower."  
  
"Oh, I see" Misty said, sitting down and taking the lid off a pottle of cold cream. "So...you don't think I'm Misty?"  
  
"I know you're not" Ash muttered.  
  
"Uh-huh" Misty nodded, applying the gunk which seemed to be removing the other truckloads of crap she had piled on earlier. "Well, earth to nothing boy, I am Misty. I've sold 7 million albums, I've performed 53 shows...I think I would know if I'd done all that."  
  
"Misty...do you even remember my name?" Ash asked quietly.  
  
"Geez, who could forget?" Misty replied, rolling her eyes before continuing in a mocking voice. "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet, I think I'm the best trainer ever, five years later I'm still can't move from square one." She laughed at her cold sarcasm, oblivious to Ash's shocked and clearly hurt expression. "So ASH" she added extra emphasis to his name. "What makes you think I'm not me?"  
  
Ash took a deep breath, trying to override the anger that was boiling so bad it was almost giving him a second pulse. "Because you are not the girl I was in love with for 4 years. You are...you..." He shook his head as he lost words and threw his hands up in exasperation. "But that was 4 years ago. Times change. So do people, obviously." He headed for the door, his walk protraying his anger.  
  
"You...loved me?" Misty's words were simply and barely audible but they were enough to stop Ash in his tracks.  
  
"No, I didn't love you" he said coldly. "I could never love you. I loved, and still love, Misty Waterflower. Lord only knows where she is now though."  
  
By now Misty had finished using her cold cream and was vacantly staring at the back of Ash as he spoke. Could she really be hearing this? Could Ash Ketchum, a boy once prioritised and obsessed with Pokèmon, openly be declaring his love for someone - lest of all, her?  
  
Misty snapped out of her trance and broke the concrete silence by slamming a drawer shut. "That's dandy. Now get back to frollicking in the forest with Pokèmon so I can get my 8 and a half hours required sleep."  
  
At this point Ash slowly turned around and had to hold in a gasp. She had eyes of thunder and that hideous outfit to match, but the makeup was gone. Standing in front of him, almost, was the physical form of the girl he had fallen in love with.  
  
With a not so clear head, he took 5 slow steps towards Misty and hesitantly touched her cheek, feeling her flinch but not pulling away.  
  
"If you lost the attitude as well as the makeup then you could almost be the Misty Waterflower I'm looking for" he said softly.  
  
Misty was now finding herself in another place. It was a year ago, when there were no fans, no managers, no contracts, just herself. And Ash. And these strange feelings that had been following her around for the most part of 4 years. She knew what the feelings were and, undeniable as they were, she made a very good job of pretending they weren't there. She made herself ignore the sensation that shot through her every time Ash was near or, God forbid, every time he touched her. As he was doing now.  
  
She came back to reality and angrily slapped his hand away before quickly whirling around so he couldn't see her wiping potential tears from her eyes. "Go. Go now" she icily instructed. He caused nothing but confusion for her. Being away from him had given her the chance to forget about him, to get over him, by putting on a happy act for her public. No one ever suspected that it was an artificial aspirin-to-water dissolving method for the pain he had unknowingly caused her. The pain, the confusion, the love...  
  
Ash dejectedly made for the door again, but not before angrily kicking a full punnet of strawberries, sending its contents into a frenzy on the floor.  
  
"You idiot!" Misty yelled, turning to face him again. "You have no idea how expensive those things are!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Love or not, don't ever come near me again, you hear me? You're a nobody with no future and no status and to be seen with you would be like being seen with some lowlife..."  
  
Through her self-centered rantings Ash made it past the door and back into the empty hallway. Sure, physical appearances had told him that she had changed, but this? This was a complete transformation, a metamorphasis of someone so beautiful, in more ways than one, into an urchin. The fates had made up for Misty's big break by giving her the personality from hell. If you could call *that* a personality.  
  
Leaning against a wall, Ash exhaled deeply and asked himself why he had even bothered. Everyone knew that fame gave people egos the size and ferocisity of Mt. Vesuvius. Why should Misty be any different, he thought.  
  
Because you loved Misty, that's why. She should've been the exception of stereotype celebrities for you.  
  
Ash eventually forced himself to leave and was tearing himself off the wall when someone pushed him back down on it, firmly holding his shoulders, and a microsecond later he was being kissed. And not only that, he was kissing this person back, absolutley rellishing in every fibre of it. A million thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations ran through him, but he couldn't deny the power that had been introduced to him through this kiss. It was unbelieavbly strong.  
  
The kiss ended and Ash realised he was holding a now sobbing Misty in his arms, her head buried in his shoulder, trembling with every cry that escaped.  
  
"I'm so sorry Ash, I...I can't..." She paused to wipe a few tears, which seemed pointless because more were falling anyway. "I can't pretend anymore" she finally whispered.  
  
"What can't you pretend?" Ash asked.  
  
Misty paused. "I can't pretend to be someone I'm not. That girl you saw in there wasn't me, you were right. She goes around demanding this and that, thinking life is so good for her because she's gone triple platinum or something. But life isn't good for her. Do you know why?" Ash shook his head dumbfoundly before she continued.   
  
"Because she doesn't love you - she won't admit it, anyway." Misty touched his cheek tenderly, her eyes never leaving his and the coldness evaporated from them. "But I, Misty Waterflower, love you, Ash Ketchum. I always have and I always knew it...I just pretended I didn't."  
  
Ash smiled and held her tighter, never wanting to let her go again. "So what happens to the girl in there?" he asked.  
  
"She dies. Gets killed off the script as reality sets in to the now unfolding romantic soap opera" Misty grinned. "Such a shame, she was such a brilliant actor."  
  
"Well she doesn't have to act anymore" Ash said quietly. "She can be her true form now."  
  
Misty nodded. "Trust me Ash, my love for you is very true."  
  
"Right back at you" Ash replied and without furthur ado intiated another kiss they had both yearned for for years, even if half the party previously hadn't been willing to admit it. But the present was all that mattered now, as the winds of the past flew by them, leaving behind the true people with their true   
emotions - love, trust and, the best policy, honesty.  
  
  
A/N: So good to be writing again, even if the stories are crap! Please review and tell me what you think, you know I love to hear from y'all, and I'll have some more stories up soon. Unless you all strongly advise that I quit while I'm slightly ahead, hahaha! Oh, and I also just had to include a bit of my PikaPal in there cos I love him and he never crops up in any of my stories! o^_^o GO PIKACHU! Hehe, AAML foreva and eva! 


End file.
